U.S. Special Forces rescued two hostages in Somalia, including one American, who were being held by pirates. The Navy Seal team was the same the killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. President Obama says the mission reasserts the United States will stand against threats to its people. Nick Childs, world affairs correspondent for our partner the BBC, joins us for an update on the situation.

Two appeals judges in London ruled on Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault changes. Assange, who has been under house arrest in a country manor for months, maintains his innocence and contends the charges are politically motivated. Assange and his lawyers will have 14 days to seek an appeal on the European Arrest Warrant. Nick Childs, correspondent for the BBC, reports from the High Court in London.

It appears as Col. Moammar Gadhafi is the latest domino to fall in the surge of popular uprisings that has swept the Arab world since the beginning of the year. This morning, the speaker of the Arab Parliament issued a statement congratulating the Libyan people and the Interim Transitional National Council on "the success of liberating Libya from the rule of the tyrant Moammar Gadhafi." 

Gen. Abdel Fattah Younis, Libya's rebel military chief of staff, was shot and killed this morning along with two other commanders on their return trip to Benghazi from Port Brega. Suspicions surrounding the deaths are numerous, but the identity and motives of the gunmen have yet to be revealed. Gen. Younis defected in February to the rebel military after years of working under Gaddafi's regime as Libya's interior minister. Doubts concerning his loyalty to the rebel cause were numerous.

Talks are underway in Qatar to try to establish a way forward for Libya, where fighting continues. Col. Gadhafi continues his attacks, while NATO has stepped in to help the rebel forces. NATO will remain in the country until the departure of Gadhafi. However, who will lead the country? Benjamin Barber is a senior fellow at Demos in New York and author of "Strong Democracy" and "Jihad vs. McWorld." He says that Gadhafi's son, Saif Gadhafi may need to play a role in the government. The BBC's Nick Childs reports on the meeting in Qatar.

From Madrid to Brussels to Dublin to Paris, workers all over the European Union are taking to the streets today in a mass day of action. Hundreds of thousands of European workers are protesting a wide range of austerity measures proposed by their own governments—like spending cuts in Britain and increasing the retirement age in France. The BBC's Nick Childs is in the thick of the protests in Brussels. He reports on what may be the beginning of Europe's winter of discontent.

Travellers caught up in the air transport chaos in Europe caused by a cloud of volcanic ash from an Icelandic volcano are going to extraordinary measures to get home. British travelers trying to get to the U.K. will soon get help from an unlikely source: The British Government has announced that two major war ships will come to the rescue for stranded British nationals in Spain.

Marcus Mabry, international business editor for The New York Times, and Nick Childs, defense and security correspondent for the BBC, take a look at what's ahead once President Obama announces his decision on troop levels for Afghanistan. They'll also examine what's ahead for health care as the Senate starts debate on their hotly contested reform bill; what Dubai's financial situation means for the rest of the world; and whether a "jobs summit" could cure our rising unemployment.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to respond today to the findings of an independent commission on the country's disputed election. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has urged President Obama not to wait for the final result of the Afghan election before deciding about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Joining us with more details is Nick Childs, defense and security correspondent for our partners, the BBC.

Marcus Mabry, international business editor of The New York Times, and Nick Childs, political correspondent for the BBC, help us take a look at what's coming up in the news this week. We talk about the president's decisions on Afghanistan, the ongoing health care debate, and President Obama's promise to the gay and lesbian community.

The United Nations Security Council will vote today to reauthorize the mandate for international forces in Afghanistan. Forty-two countries have troops in Afghanistan in numbers small and large, ranging from Singapore's two soldiers to Britain's 9,000. We're spending the week on the now eight-year-old war in Afghanistan; today we look at the role international forces are playing and how well U.S. forces and international allies are working together. Evelyn Farkas is a senior fellow with the American Security Project, a public policy organization. She was part of a NATO delegation with the International Security Assistance Force that just returned from Afghanistan this week. We also speak to BBC defense and security correspondent Nick Childs in London, and BBC correspondent Tristana Moore in Berlin.

President Obama will soon face one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency: how to manage the war in Afghanistan. The fight right now is over troop levels. General Stanley McChrystal submitted a troop request to the Pentagon on Friday and spent the Sunday talk shows making the public case for his recommendations. We talk with BBC political correspondent Nick Childs.

While in the Security Council of the United Nations, President Obama won unanimous adoption of a resolution to curb the proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons and move toward total disarmament, Iran continues to develop nuclear sites. This morning there are reports revealing the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant in Iran. The BBC's defense and security correspondent, Nick Childs, joins us with a look at what this announcement will mean for next week's high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran.

We talk to BBC defense and Security correspondent Nick Childs about details of a leaked report from the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan on troop levels there.

Then we speak to New Yorker correspondent George Packer about his profile of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke cut his teeth in Vietnam and won acclaim for his negotiations in Bosnia. Now, Holbrooke faces what may be the definitive challenge of his career: the war in Afghanistan.

The small East African nation of Somalia is once again becoming a big problem for the United States, this time in the fight against terrorism and al-Qaida. There is enough fear that the nation is becoming a breeding ground for terrorists that the United States launched a preemptive strike yesterday. American troops landed in Somalia and attacked a group of Islamic militants. We're joined this morning by Nick Childs, defense and security correspondent for our partners, the BBC.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will launch an inquiry into the Iraq War. Britain backed up the U.S. during the invasion of 2003 and British soldiers fought in Iraq. The war was unpopular in the U.K. and hurt the political standing of Brown's predecessor Tony Blair. Joining The Takeaway is BBC Political Correspondent and a Former BBC Pentagon Correspondent Nick Childs to talk about the inquiry.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet with President Obama on the beaches of Normandy, France, tomorrow in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of D-Day. This happens while an expenses scandal rocks Brown's governing Labor Party as well as the other major British political parties. Joining The Takeaway is BBC's Political Correspondent Nick Childs from Westminster and Michael Goldfarb, London Correspondent of Globalpost.com.